THE ROYAL PALACE, ATHENS 



once it belonged to a Garden of the Muses. 

 King George's children looked down from their 

 nursery windows on this green garden, and 

 on some palm trees and umbrella pines which 

 he planted himself. 



The enthusiasm for Greek Independence, felt 

 so keenly in England in the days of Byron, 

 cooled down a little during the troubled reign 

 of the Bavarian Otto. It was too much to 

 expect rapid political advancement in a small and 

 disunited country where the idea of patriotism 

 was only at its dawn. At least it was a period 

 of material advancement; and Otto made roads 

 and started some agriculture and manufactures. 

 King George, too, was an excellent farmer, and 

 his vineyards produced the best wine in a country 

 where there is much of great excellence. 



King George proved a much greater ruler than 

 Otto. His reign was marked by continuity of 

 aim ; that persistence of the idea, without 

 which nothing great is ever accomplished. His 

 sagacity in choosing his ministers, his consum- 

 mate knowledge of when to assert himself and 

 when to yield, brought him triumphantly 

 through disorders and even mutinies which 



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